Heading into last week's Colonial League game against Northwesetern, Catasauqua needed three wins to qualify for a spot in the district playoffs.

Not only did the Rough Riders pick up one of those critical victories with four games remaining on the schedule, they did so in convincing fashion. Shiloh Sziy scored three goals, and the Rough Riders built on their 2-0 lead at halftime to down the Tigers, 6-1, last Thursday at Catasauqua High School.

"We had five games left, and our number is three wins to make it into districts, but we really hope for five wins," Sziy said. "We have four more and we hope to win them all. If we keep working and playing like we can, we can definitely accomplish that goal."

"It was nice to see everything come together today," head coach Carrie Saul said. "They had a great practice yesterday, and I felt good about coming into today's game that they were going to work together. Our passing game came together today."

The Rough Riders kept that momentum going over the weekend with a 4-0 win over Salisbury. Monday's 3-0 non-league victory over Lehighton qualified the Rough Riders for that coveted district spot.

"I think we played really well as a team, and we had a lot of awesome passes to get up the field," Sziy said. "We cause a lot of corners to give people the opportunities to score."

Sziy put Catasauqua in front just 2:33 into the game after redirecting a prior Rough Riders shot past Northwestern's Laura Kotula. Gabrielle Bachman then took a pass from Quinn Bachman in front of the Tigers' goal, and fired into the back of the cage for a quick 2-0 advantage.

"Quinn [Bachman] had the shot on goal, and it was a nice hard hit," Sziy said of her first goal. "It tipped off of my stick, and I sent it in. It was her hard hit that started it."

When the second half got underway, it didn't take long for Sziy to make an impact and put the Tigers out of reach. Sziy rebounded another Quinn Bachman shot into the back of the cage for a 3-0 lead, and moments later, Sziy added another goal off a Rough Rider corner kick.

"The team really pushed the ball up the field really well and caused corners," Sziy said. "Olivia [Schlofer] and Quinn [Bachman] had great give-and-gos. Once we got up there, it was nice to actually have our corners work."

Corner kicks have been a big part of the Rough Riders' game all season. And when those opportunities have risen, Sziy has been the leader at putting away those chances.

"That's where I've had her on offensive corners all season," Saul said. "We were able to get those shots off today. We call her the 'goalie nightmare' because she kind of scraps anything off of the goalie's pads. It was nice to see it work often today."

Following a goal from Northwestern's Courtney Page that made it a 4-1 Catasauqua advantage, Quinn Bachman and Schlofer added Rough Rider goals to end the game.

Tiffany Murawski wasn't tested much in goal, but she did record two Tiger shots.

Results from Wednesday's game at Southern Lehigh were not available at time of press. The Rough Riders travel to Palmerton on Thursday for their regular season finale.